After the disappointment of drawing with Southampton, on Boxing Day, thanks to a late penalty from Rickie Lambert, Martin Jol will be hoping that his side can get back to winning ways when Michael Laudrup brings his entertaining Swansea side to Craven Cottage. To get three points from this one could be tough, but then again it is about time we won again is it not!
Vital Quotes:
To follow
Fulham Team News:
Martin Jol will be pleased to welcome back Bryan Ruiz after he finally shrugged of a hamstring injury to play forty-five minutes against Southampton, on Boxing Day.
Likely to be unavailable, through injury, are Diarra and Petric whilst Duff could also miss out again.
Player to watch: Dimitar Berbatov
Chastised by Martin Jol after his t-shirt celebration, following his goal against Southampton, the Bulgarian will be keen to dominate the action again, so do as it more-or-less says on that t-shirt – Keep calm and give him the ball!
Swansea Team News:
Michael Laudrup brings his squad to West London with doubts about his top-scorer, Michu. The Spanish forward picked up an ankle injury, against Reading, on Boxing Day.
Also rated as doubtful are Angel Rangel and Pablo Hernandez.
Player to watch: Nathan Dyer
Small in stature but big in class!
Match Facts & Stats
Last season Swansea had the upper hand over Fulham, winning both fixtures. The Swans won 3-0 at Craven Cottage and 2-0 at the Liberty Stadium.
Ref Watch:
The officials appointed by the Premier League for this fixture are:-
Referee – A. Marriner
Assistants – R .West and S. Massey
Fourth Official – N. Swarbrick
Match Prediction:
With only 5points taken from the last 30 available, we really do need a win, but can we beat Swansea? It`ll be a hard task and one for which we`ll need to be up for but where would we be if we didn`t believe we could end the year with a win? I`m going for a 1-0 Fulham win.
Next Fixtures:
Our first game of 2013 will see us visit the Hawthorns to take on a West Bromwich side that are flying. Kick off for this fixture, on Tuesday January 1st is 12:45
